Man dies after shooting near Washington County elementary school sends students inside
A man was fatally injured after a shooting near an elementary school in Washington County on Monday.
Authorities said students were on the playground at John F. Kennedy Catholic School in Washington around noon when shots rang out across the street.
Police said the shooting happened while deputies with the Washington County Sheriff's Department were at the school with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. When they heard the gunfire, they got the kids to safety.
"The sheriff's office actually had officers right here in the area, so they were here right away," Detective John Hritz with the Washington Police Department said.
When law enforcement heard the shots, officials said the deputies ushered the students inside, moved students away from windows, and secured the building.
They then responded to the scene, where they found a man who had been shot. The victim, later identified by the coroner as 28-year-old Nasstylejah Wilkerson, was taken to a local hospital, where he died.
"It seems like everything happened outside here, right on the street on the sidewalk," Hritz said.
While the victim was being rushed to a local hospital, detectives got to work to try and piece together what happened. They interviewed witnesses, looked for surveillance footage in the area and collected evidence.
"To have a shooting in the middle of the daylight in the middle of a neighborhood here is obviously out of the ordinary," Hritz said.
When the city's mayor heard about the shooting and how close it was to the school, he rushed to the scene. While he condemned the shooter, he praised school officials and law enforcement for their quick action.
"The school and the sheriff's office, with the way they worked to make sure the kids were safe, I've already got calls from residents saying they commend them for getting the kids off the playground, back into the school and making sure they were safe. I want all those parents of those students to know the staff and the sheriff's office did a phenomenal job taking care of your kids to make sure they weren't part of another scene," Mayor JoJo Burgess said.
Police are asking anyone who has a surveillance video from their home to please reach out to police. It was not immediately known if police had a suspect.
